Washington D.C. Woes

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Any DC area dopers, advice is solicited.

A friend of mine has an upcoming trip to France and, despite applying for a passport well in advance, has not yet received such. Our local Senator’s office has been notified, and is on the case, and the passport has been expedited, but the flight is in a week and Monday is Memorial Day.

So, the last resort option is to go into D.C. and get the passport in person. I have volunteered to assist, as the friend in question has no vehicle, and I happen to get Fridays off during the summer.

I’m looking at different scenarios, in terms of risk, time, and expense.

1.) Drive into D.C. … park somewhere. Drive out once business is complete.

2.) Drive into D.C. suburbs, to a cousin’s house, take a taxi into the city proper, taxi back to my truck afterwards.

3.) Drive to Martinsburg WV at the crack of 3AM to catch the MARC commuter train to Union Station, use the DC Metro to get around in the city, spend most of the day in the city, MARC back to MArtinsburg, drive home.

4.) Drive to Shady Grove, the nearest outlying Metro station, pay for parking and ride the Metro in, ride the Metro out, and go home.

I hate driving. I hate driving in crowded city traffic more. I’m concerned about parking price and availability.

#1 is bad for those reasons.

#2 is a little better in terms of driving, and alot better in terms of parking, but the cousin lives near Dulles, so the traffic will still be bad, and there’s the expense of a Taxi.

#3 involves getting up at 3AM or earlier to get to the MARC before it leaves. And wasting the ENTIRE day in DC.

#4 seems best, provided I can get parking at Shady Grove. Allow four hours to drive there, an hour for the train trip, an hour for the errand, an hour for the return train trip, and four hours back - I’ll actually have a few hours in the evening at home, and won’t have to get up earlier than I would for work the rest of the week.

Of course, I’m hoping the passport’s status changes to “mailed” by Thursday evening.

Any thoughts, advice, comments?

2

I always park and Metro. Always. It probably won’t take an hour to get downtown by it, either.

3

The train schedule suggests a little over thirty minutes, but I always leave extra time, and time for buying the tickets, finding my way around the station, etc.

4

If you were to leave at a time that you’re approaching DC after rush hour (say 9:30 or 10), you can drive straight downtown, find a parking space, do your business, get out before afternoon rush (maybe 3-7) and be home in time for your favorite TV show or something. DC itself isn’t too bad if you hit it at the right time…it’s getting in on the highways that’s a bitch.

5

If you don’t like to drive, just park at the metro. Budget the whole day for it and don’t pay too much attention to the time on the appointment. Get there early (at least an hour); bring stuff to read. I had to get a passport in one day recently in DC (it took two days). Make sure you have all the documents you will need beforehand. If your friend needs photos there is a place next door.

6

I would suspect that. On the other hand, I don’t want to rely on it. (With my luck, there’d be some kind of parade or convention to tie up traffic or parking…)

7

I am concerned about your parenthetical. What do you mean, it took two days?

8

I’d say Shady Grove and the Metro would work out best. Parking in DC is always going to be difficult, so it’s always better to use the Metro if possible.

9

To concur, I think taking the metro is the best combination of cost and time efficiency (with minimal stress). I’m always driving into DC (being that my fianceé lives there :(). Generally, as was said, the traffic isn’t so bad if you catch it on off hours… but sometimes, due to events you didn’t know about, or construction, the traffic can be bad at unpredictable times (like 7PM on a Sunday… took me more than 30 minutes to go 10 blocks and cross the Key Bridge). It is also my observation that parking downtown is always a pain and/or outrageously expensive.

10

Shady Grove…definitely

11

Metro serves Dulles by bus. The bus will connect you to the West Falls Church Metro stop.

12

Correction. That is one bus choice. The other one will get you right to L’Enfant Plaza.

The train connection runs on the half hour, the downtown bus is hourly.

13

The Shady Grove metro parking lot might be a pain in the butt. It fills up early, or it used to. It also cost $4 to park and you need the nifty metro pass to get out which means an extra $5 for the card. (They may have changed this as they were talking about taking credit cards at some stations.) You’ll also have to deal with traffic from the Frederick area until the station, which is 20+ miles from Frederick and backed up at 5am.

I would skip the MARC train from Martinsburg, why not drive to Brunswick, MD and catch the train there? There are more trains to catch going in, it will be cheaper, and there are more trains coming out, including one around 2.

You might be able to catch a bus to the metro as well from your cousins house. Or at least a taxi, has to be better then a taxi into the city.

The last idea would be to come down the night before and get a hotel, there’s one down the street from me in Gaithersburg that’s next to the park and ride for the metro so you could get up and walk to the bus for the metro. I think the hotel runs about $70 a night. At least then you can get some sleep.

14

You could park in front of my house and walk less then a mile to the Metro. If you arrive at a convenient time I’ll even give you a lift.

ETA – The Shady Grove Metro parking lot does NOT require a SmartTrip pass; they do have a credit card lane. No cash, though.

15

Parking downtown is a nightmare especially if you aren’t familiar with the area so I would skip that option.

Driving to Dulles and cabbing in to the City will probably run you $70.00 so I would avoid that. You might want too stay with your cousin and then drive to one of the Metro Stations such as Vienna or Dunn Loring. Driving and parking will still be cheaper than catching a taxi there and back.

My experience with the buses in Northern VA is that they weren’t all that reliable but things may have changed since then.

16

I appreciate the offer, sir! And yes, the Metro info page says the Shady Grove lot has a credit card lane. The parking filling up, there, would be a concern, but that’s the kind of information I’m looking for.

Are things less crowded on a Friday, in the Summer?

17

Right, but my cousin lives near Dulles, not at it. I’m not sure where precisely, other than ‘Reston, VA’.

18

I recommend the Shady Grove station as well. I always got on at Rockville, though. I like the relative reliability of the metro as well as not having to drive downtown.

Edward The Head, is Roys Tavern still open up there in Gaithersburg?

19

How bad is the traffic back-up?

Brunswick does look a little better than Martinsburg - it’s buy me almost an hour in the morning, and a few hours in the evening…

I’ve considered the hotel idea. (Well, I considered Martinsburg hotels… ) Is Gaithersburg inside the beltway?

20

Reston is pretty well served by Fairfax Connector buses that will bring you to the Metro Station.

I’m just trying to save you cab fare.